Bayley F have gone to the top of the second division with a game in hand, and the team are firing on all cylinders at the moment. A really good match this week when Bayley took on LDS C at the Wellington club. Phil Whitby tried his hardest to lose the first frame, when his opponent, Joe Rixom, needed snookers at three times during the frame. In the end Phil won this on the black! Alan Turner had a good battle with Jon Calvert, who potted extremely well with good safety, but it was a relieved Alan Turner who won the frame on the pink. Mick Hughes did his best to make it three, but found Carl Kesterton potting too well for him, and so LDS C took their first point of the evening. Andy Kendrick started the next playing Colin Soltys, but Andy took half the frame to get his cue action going, but when it did, he took a nice 24 during the frame and went on to win that one. Talk about saving the best to last! Graham Darrell was up against Pete Randall, and what a fine display Graham gave. Graham knocked in a superb 47 break during the frame to take the current highest break from his team mate, Mick Hughes.

Minnesota Fats A are producing good results at the moment, and this week was no different as they played mid table Coddon C. Neil Pearson put the first point on the board for the home side when he beat Ollie Wall. Mick Pearson added the second against Mick Stokes, and then in the third frame Mick Egan had a convincing win against new signing, Chris Latham. It was Matt Bothwell for Coddon who rescued a point for the Donnington side when he took the frame from Dale Blagborough.In the last frame Phil Bufton made it 4-1 with a victory over Mark Tusel.

LDS G made ground up this week when they were at home to another team chasing promotion, Bayley B. The match started well for the Bayley side with young Tom Mulholland producing a 31 break during his win over Tommy Bell. The next saw Rob Withington return to winning ways for LDS with a win over the ever reliable Kev West. Stu Ross, a good signing for the Little Dawley side this season, made it 2-1 in a closely contested frame with Dan Oliver, always a difficult player to beat, and in the next frame Roy Levenue took the score line to 3-1 beating Craig Baugh. Graham Copson and Dickie Bedall battled it out for the last frame of the evening, and it was Graham who won this one giving is side a 4-1 match win. This win puts LDS G right back in the picture of promotional candidates.

In the local derby match between Maddocks D and Maddocks B, it was the B side who came out victorious. This win has done the B side the world of good in their current position, and gives them a fighting chance of staying up. Graham Arnold lost the first frame to Wally Harper with Doug Morrey adding the second. Roy Lowe for Maddocks D pulled one back in a close frame with Geoff Tudor, but then John Archer regained the impetus with a win over M. Ilyas. It was also another close frame in the last, but Roy Adams made it 4-1 to Maddocks B when he beat Fred Spragg.

First Division

With no card in from Maddocks A this weekend, Shifnal B have claimed top spot, maybe briefly? as they took on Dawley A at the War Memorial club. Aaron Sparkes went into bat first, and he got the Shifnal team off to a good start by beating Carl Walker. Matt Davies made it 2-0 with a comfortable win over Mark Jones. The next frame was much closer, and in this one Angus Way just got the better of Alex Nolan, 61-53. Lindsay Knox made it 4-0 with his win over Pete Nolan, and in the final frame Rick Bailey gave John Fallows a run for his money, but lost the frame 53-40.

This week saw Maddocks C "home" to club rivals Maddocks A who currently sit top of the table and who must have a great chance of the title. Two previous matches this season (1 league, 1 cup) had seen the C team come out on top in very close games, and this one was expected to be just as close. This proved to be the case again with some very close games which could have gone either way.

Up first C team captain Joe Oliver came up against Ian Eldridge who has enjoyed an excellent season and with Joe unable to take a couple of early chances Ian got in to his stride and with a break of 44 took the 1st frame 68-3 . The next game matched Steve Hassack against Ian Skelton and with a break of 34 and little bits of good fortune Ian ran out the winner 68-38. The A side continued with their good fortune in the 3rd game when Graham Hoof looked set to take the frame after clawing his way back against Phil Davies , only to see Phil fluke the pink in the middle pocket and win 49-34 . Up next Leigh France for the A side started well against Ian Cleary , got frustrated and lost his way in the middle of the game with Ian taking a narrow lead , but then made a good recovery to take the frame 69-38 . At this stage a whitewash was on the cards with the A side taking a quite flattering 4-0 lead. A captain Dave France then came up against Darren Willkie, another player who has performed very well so far this season, and he continued in the same vein and at least got the C side a consolation point in winning the game 63-23, even though Dave in his usual manner put every effort in to clawing his way back.

Local bragging rights for the A side on this occasion, and even though Dave was disappointed to lose the last frame, he did admit a 3-2 either way would have been a better reflection of the close games. However, the A side will be more than happy with the result in their pursuit of the title. Can they keep their good run going?

This report courtesy of Joe Oliver.

The Bayley A side were at home to LDS A this week, and although Steve Fletcher got the Bayley team off to a winning start when he beat Lee Elcock, that was as far as it went. Chris Morgan-Adams gave a good account of himself when he played Jesse Lowe, but the frame went to Jesse, 58-54. Arthur Burrows then lost his frame to Graham Wiley, before Stu Russell made it 3-1 against Bob Mason. Ade Henry completed the 4-1 overall result for his team by beating Maxwell Hodson.

Coddon A are in a cluster of teams at the bottom end of this division, and they played fellow strugglers, Shifnal F at the Coddon club. Dave Peplow took the opening frame for Shifnal with a victory over Andy Jones, but in a close frame between Tony Garmson and John Briscoe, it was Tony for Coddon who levelled the scores. Next up saw Dave Lloyd put the home side in front with a win over Spencer Rowley. Roy Martin for Shifnal, only making his seventh appearance of the season set up a deciding frame when he beat Steve Downes 52-39. The last frame of the evening looked to be a good match between Mark Wall and Rob Wright. A very close affair with Mark running out the winner, 55-43.

Third Division

Hadley B maintained their lead in this division again this week with a 5-0 win over the bottom of the table, Second Club B. Hadley were the home side in this match, and the match was opened with Matt Bailey playing Alan Kynaston. This one went to Matt. The next saw Ken Booty beat Keith Mears for Hadley to go two up, but in the next frame Darren Pountney illustrated the standard of this team, with a classy 72 break in his frame with Nick Holmes. Dave Smout also had a comfortable win against Chris Coterill, and finally Kevin Whitehead completed the rout with a win over Roger Smith.

LDS B were at home to Bayley Q, and this turned out to be a 5-0 win for the home side. Chris Lawson won the opener when he played Lee Newton, with Ritchie Heighway adding the second when he played Andy Fletcher. Colin Gittus was too good for Rob Cook, but in the next frame Chris Fletcher put up a good display and only just lost out to Pete Randall, 49-40. Sam Drake for the Dawley side had a 22 break during his win over Chris Bates.

Dawley C are still well in contention for honours, and this week they entertained Newport B. It was Newport who drew first blood with Allan Davies beating Sean Cross 64-44. Jamie Mills levelled the score in a close frame with Richard Goldie, and then Newport took the lead once again courtesy of Keith Gardener beating Luke Edwards. Andy Shaw then beat Steve Speake to set up a decider between Chris Gifford and Les Stirling. It was Chris who won this decider to keep his team in the van so to speak.

Anstice B pulled them selves back into contention also this week, when they were at home to Shifnal D. Anstice raced into a 3-0 lead with Mick Cahill taking the first from Terrie Askew, Noel Stones beating Pete Wharton, and John Darrock getting the better of Arthur Aston. It was Geoff French who halted the run, when he beat George Hammond, however, Steve Smallwood added the fourth to the tally when he defeated Barrie Easthope in the last.

Bayley D are not out of it yet, but can’t seem to string a run of results together. This week, Bayley were the home side to Allscott. Dave Dudley opened for the Bayley and came up against a good potter, Kev Welland, and this one went to Kev. Dave Williams gave Bayley a glimmer of hope when he levelled the match in his frame with Nick Gwynne, but then, Brian Aberdeen lost to Dave Finney for Alscott to go 2-1 up. In the next Mark Bedall suffered the same result against L. Harris in a close frame. Jim Lewis got even closer in his fame with Steve Powell, but just lost this one to Steve, 44-40.

Alan Turner    

Alan.Turner@telfordsnooker.com